Born and having grown up in Hanoi, with a strong love for art, Thuy Bui Howarth has found her own way to express herself through lacquer – a very special and precious material from Vietnam- to create unique paintings. Maybe still considered as a new comer in Europe, in fact, Vietnamese lacquer painting ( or Sơn Mài) has been in existence for over 80 years. Previously, for thousands of years, lacquer was used for the decoration of objects.

Thuy’s paintings are very much influenced by music and nature. You can see the orchestra of life created by a fun-and-stun process of using breathtaking and original techniques and materials. These include eggshell, mother of pearl, silver and gold leaves. These materials are rubbed with sand paper until the colours and textures burst out of the surface, layer by layer.

In the exhibition of lacquer painting, there are also ceramic works by Bui Minh Hong.

Graduated from University in Geneva with MBA degree but having a great passion and love with clay, Bui Minh Hong decided to leave the office to work as a potter. Inspired by Asian traditional technique and Western modern style, she creates the unique and high quality products.

From the first exhibition of To Ngoc Van in Sai Gon (17/12/1930) to the day when he passed away in Dien Bien Phu campaign (17/06/1954), his artistic life lasted for 24 years with 2 phases of composition 1930-1945 (before the August Revolution) and 1945-1954 (the war against France). In fact, the social history had had a great impact on his career. If the art reflects the changes in social relations, the work of Ngoc Van partially demonstrate such thing.

Indochina Fine Arts College was established in winter 1925 with the first artist generation such as Le Pho, Mai Trung Thu, Le Van De, Nguyen Phan Chanh, Cong Van Trung and Georges Khanh.To Ngoc Van was the second artist generation had learnt in this college. He had had chance to be taught by French teachers, learned artistic technique such as history about the art of cubes, the application of natural colours in order to create renowned pictures afterward. Artist Tran Binh Loc wrote: “In terms of artistic field, To Ngoc Van career is worth being appreciated because he had a good vision, a quality that not all the artist did”. From the beginning he did not accept the aesthetic ideal of Greece and Italian arts with cold shades of gray, respect for the symmetry, graphics glitches in the classic contour. He had discovered and asserted itself to find beauty, harmony between man and nature.

To Ngoc Van Artist

Graduated in 1931, To Ngoc Van had collaborated with some newspaper such as Phong Hoa, Ngay Nay, Thanh nghi. Under his pen name To Tu, Ai My, he had written and painted many works on those newspapers till 1945. If Nguyen Do Cung was a talented artist, an archeologist, To Ngoc Van had completed his mission on opening a new aesthetic pratice, a sharp art critic with his new conception about art in general.

Derived from the concept “the beauty in the picture is not the beauty in reality”, period 1930-1945, To Ngoc Van’s art style had been followed the Western art tendencies but was appropriate for Vietnamese society in 1930s, the last years of campaign bourgeois revolution. French army on the one hand suppressed revolutions; on the other hand they seduced Vietnamese people to play the whore. Tu Luc Van Doan group had issued a manifesto that criticized the patriarchal behaviours of Vietnamese people. In these years, To Ngoc Van was in harmony with Tu Luc Van Doan group, he ascertained that his art style was in the same situation with intelligentsia’s one. Many of his art works in the newspapers such as landscape, Hanoian women expressed his artistic conception about shape, material, color, natural lights.

At this time, similar to the artistic esthete of To Ngoc Van, Nguyen Do Cung had depicted a beauty through narrative “Live and Draw” that was issued in Xuan Thu Nha Tap Journal in 1942. This was a big journal issued many topics such as literature, poem and painting and created by Nguyen Luong Ngoc. Established in 1942, this group had their own art tendency, manifesto, poem that followed “hermétique” style. Nguyen Do Cung’s work “Live and Draw” was based on To Ngoc Van’s conception about art. His conception accepted that art is a means of expressing emotion rather than a research about ideal model of beauty. It also confirmed that art must evaluate the human’s value and emotion. He wrote: “I think that a beautifull picture describes my feeling. Therefore, I only believe that a man with full of emotion will become a famous artist”.

All of his works in the period 1930-1945 had demonstrated his conception about art that expressed his personal feeling with gorgeous tone of colour. Although mainly exposed with classical art, French impression under the guidance of professor Victor Tardieu, Inguimberty, he realized the fribolity of French impression that ignores the human’s emotion. Artist Tran Van Can said “To Ngoc Van had graduated in 1931. It was easy to spot the Gauguin’s influence in picture “Offrande” and Acgianta’s influence on the work “Cadeau de Noce” or Japanese art in work “two shepherd children”.

Thanh Nghi newspaper number 87, 12/10/1944 made a comment about art exhibition in 1944: “Along with warm yellow tone of colour of some artists is oil pain with bright cold shade of colour of To Ngoc Van- an artist always loves his life. Under his eyes, gloomy scene has something happy inside”. In fact, in terms of To Ngoc Van conception about art, colour is the soul of a work no matter what material it is and artist is the one who control the emotion to find the inner beauty to express the sophistication of life”. Picasso said: “ I do not find but I see”. We can see that To Ngoc Van’s artistic conception was quite similar to Picasso’s conception.

From 9th to 15th December, 2016
56 lastest lacquer paintings and ceramics will be exibited

Main Artists:

Nguyen Tuan Cuong
Biography: “I have been drawing old objects since 2007 because I found that those beheld the antique and quiet beauty. Old objects remind people of memories of life and they are representatives of cultural and social pattern. I am pretty fond of objects with simple shapes such as eggs and cylinder objects. In addition, I am impressed by ceramics in Ly-Tran dysnaty. In my opinion, each object has its own world. It is such a magic world where shelters them from changes throughout human’s history. I express those emotions and ideas through the Vietnam lacquer which I have been making use of for 20 years”

Vu Tuan Dung
Biography: “My creative insprirations has been taken from the ancient tradition and culture of Vietnam. My work depicts apparently shades as well as the transformation of the transformation of the spectacular life around. I aspire to execute paintings embodying the soul of Vietnam and reflecting my points of view about reality. I focus on the normal object but dig deep into its appearance and material. Lacquer painting gives me an opportunity to awake my senses and listen to “material story”. Unlike oil painting, it is an artistic world which needs the understanding and respecting”Tran Tien Thanh
Biography: Born in 1975 in Hanoi, Tran Tien Thanh has taken part in many art exhibitions in Vietnam and oversea such as: Military Art Exhibition, National fine arts exhibition, Beijing lacquer Exhibition and Hanoi annual art Exhibition . His lacquer painting works depict tranquil daily life around with warm tone of colour
Opening Reception 18:00, Friday, 9th December, 2016

Art Exhibition “Handshake” collects more than 80 works by 16 artists, including 6 Russian artists.

On 3rd March, the opening event of the 5th Art Exhibition Vietnam – Russia Handshake is held in Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum. This year, the organizers send invitation to artists from the South Central Provinces, Central Highlands, Ho Chi Minh City and Russian artists in the city of Magadan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok.

This is an annual exchange activity between the two countries’ artists, initiated by Prof. Dr. Olga Zotova – Faculty of Journalism and Publishing, Far Eastern Federal University in Russia and Bui Van Quang – the manager of Vietnam Fine arts Association in Khanh Hoa.

According to Bui Van Quang, this is the exhibition with the largest number of participants. Mr Quang said that the subjects of Russian artists in this exhibition are mainly landscapes, realism. The participants are very famous.

The painters exchange the art and culture of the two countries in the outdoor painting sessions at the fishing village, the small islands of Nha Trang and Vladivostok. They are introduced traditional food, music programs and some rural traditions locally.

Lacquered items have been found in ancient tombs in Vietnam dating as far back as the third and fourth centuries B.C. Over the centuries, Vietnamese master craftsmen and artists have mastered techniques using lacquer for purpose of decoration and preservation. Lacquer paintings now can compete successfully with silk and oil paintings and have the unique character of this style of painting.
Artistic Characteristics:
Lacquer traditionally comes in three colors – brown, black and vermilion. By the 1930s, artists started to use a new technique known as chiseling which gives a richer mix of colors and an added sense of size and distance..
The painting is done on wood. It is covered with a piece of cloth glued to it using the sap of the lacquer tree and then coated with a layer of the sap mixed with earth. The board is then sand papered and recoated with a layer of hot sap. After polishing, this gives a smooth black surface with a brilliant luster.
The painter uses hot lacquer to draw the outline of a picture and the colors are applied one by one, layer upon layer. Each coat dries slowly.
The finishing touches consist of polishing and washing the pictures. This process may seem like brutal treatment for a work of art, but it is done with great care. This process leaves a brilliant surface on a painting.

Continuing the success of TET ART 2015, TET ART proudly presents TET ART 2016, a historical art happening that will take place from 21-31 January 2016, at Hanoi’s newest and hottest art and creative destination: HANOI CREATIVE CITY.

TET ART 2016 unites and showcases more than 200 curated original artworks by more than 80 leading Vietnamese and international modern and contemporary artists. The program also features a series of Art Talks on Artist and Art Creation, Art Collection and Art Investment; Art Performance; Workshops; Art Tour, and an Art Film section.

Notably, all artworks on display will have specially concessional prices during TET ART 2016 as a commitment of the organizer and all the participating artists to the development of Vietnamese arts and art lovers

Art carries religion to everyone, leads people to religion. All religions, including Catholicism, have always been the subject and inspiration of the art, including painting. You are invited to the group exhibition “24.12.15” – contributed to Christmas 2015.

Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the participation of 421 authors over all the country in which 67 work in Sculpture, Installation art, and other 354 counterparts work in painting, graphics, and video art areas.